Why in news?
NITI Aayog recently released its three-year action agenda (TYAA) for the government for reforming various sectors of the economy including agriculture.
What are the problems in this regard?
- NITI Aayog's TYAA basically talks of action regarding
- increasing productivity of land and water
- reforming agri-markets on the lines of e-NAM
- reforming tenancy law
- relief measures in the event of natural disasters
- However, there is a need for prioritising policy actions and emphasising the role of trade policy in agriculture.
- MSP - Minimum Support Prices scheme has not improved profitability in cultivation in the last three years.
- The situation is worse for producers of basic vegetables like potatoes, onions and tomatoes as prices at harvest time plunged to low levels.
- Market - Attempts to reform APMC markets on the lines of model Act of 2003, and now of APLM, 2017, have not succeeded much.
- The e-NAM scheme, which is supposed to create an all India market ensuring better prices to farmers, also has some bottlenecks.
- It is still installing software in mandis to switch auctions to electronic ones, and also Inter-mandi and inter-state transactions are very rare.
What should be done?
- Market - Government should devise plans to buy directly from farmers’ group such as Farmer Producer Organisations.
- The necessary logistics for grading, storage, movement, and linking them to organised retail (including e-retail) has to be set up.
- Government should also change certain laws including Export Credit Agency laws to facilitate easy credit to local exporters of agri products.
- These would make market initiatives to have a more pro-farmer approach.
- Profitability - one way to improve farmers’ profitability is to open up exports of all agri-products, without any restrictions.
- Government can allow storage by private trade to build global value chains.
- Government should ensure that Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana delivers its objectives on compensation to farmers well in time to reduce loss in times of disaster.
- Irrigation - Government should ensure that Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana and NABARD's Long-Term Irrigation Fund are carried out as per the plan.
- However, besides these, government should take forward the micro-irrigation (drip and sprinklers) projects to have a high water-use efficiency.
- Enhancing Direct Benefit Transfer of food and fertiliser subsidies to targeted beneficiaries is needed, as this can release resources for investments.
- A firm, wholesome action on all these fronts can bring the desired growth in the agriculture sector.
Source: Financial Express
